


Abhorrence

by Fridge4422



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Adventure, Afterlife, Horror, Multi, Psychological Horror, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-18 13:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17581991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fridge4422/pseuds/Fridge4422
Summary: The RED team go onto the road after a victory in the battlefield, but their journey is cut short by outside forces.





	1. Chapter 1

The road exiting Sawmill to the other areas of the New Mexican desert was, for the most part, deserted. The almost never-ending rain persisted to a fair way off, the rain giving sprout to dense forests that enclosed the road. After a long day of fighting the bots of Gray, the team set out to parts unknown, while Ms. Pauling operated the radio in the back of the van to keep updated on the war.

While Ms. Pauling had state of the art headphones that kept her concentrated on her task, the rest of the team weren’t as lucky.

“CAUSE WE GOT A LITTLE CONVOY!”

“ROCKIN THROUGH THE NIGHT!”

Engineer, Demo, and Solider were joyfully singing along to the radio. Pyro was attempting with his Hums, and a slightly drunken Scout joined in after futile attempts to interact with Ms. Pauling.

Medic and Heavy were near the back of the van where Ms. Pauling was, talking to each other while Spy and Sniper awkwardly stared at each other, the others, and back at each other, trying to not go insane while listening to the other’s terrible singing.

Spy eventually shut the door between the cab and the rest of the van, somewhat muffling the singing. Ms. Pauling took down notes of novel like proportions on a notepad.

As Medic droned on and on about new experiments to Heavy, whose limited knowledge of the English language prohibited him from understanding literally anything the man was saying, Ms. Pauling abruptly flicked the Radio off and stuffed the notepad into her bag.

As soon as she took off her headphones that were partially undoing the bun her hair was being kept in, she glanced towards the Cabin, then at Medic.

“Is that Scout singing?” she said with a confused look.

Medic looked from Heavy to Ms. Pauling, then to the cabin, and then back to Pauling in a few short seconds. “Vhell I think so, either that or Engineer needs an operation!” he laughed at his own joke.

Ms. Pauling shot an eyebrow to Heavy.

“What did I tell you about giving alcohol to Scout?”

Heavy’s eyes widened. Heavy could tear bears into little tiny pieces, and use the bodily fluids from tiny baby men to grease the treads of tanks. But Ms. Pauling?

Ms. Pauling _terrified_ him.

It wasn’t that she was generally mean to anyone at all, but just the kindness and energy and hard working from the tiny woman was unlike anything he had seen, and it more than likely contained a lot of pent up aggression, something only Heavy seemed to see.

He would hate for some of that to be released one day.

“Uhh… No habla engles.”

“Heavy, you do realize I know the difference between Spanish and Russian, right?”

Heavy sighed. “It’s just so- English is not best. Doktor?”

“The word is funny, Herr Heavy.”

“Yes! Funny to me when seeing tiny man act different. So fascinating when his tiny man body does when he is given either a motive, or alcohol.”

Ms. Pauling didn’t release her gaze. “You’re forgetting the last time we gave Scout alcohol.”

Heavy stopped, “Oh. Right.”

Sniper became more interested in this conversation. “Aye, what he’d do? This should be good.”

Ms. Pauling gave Medic a look, and Medic rolled his eyes.

“Vhell, the last time Scout got drunk Solider and YOU decided to give him “relationship advice”, and you want to know what that advice was, Sharpshutze?”

Sniper seemed confused, but he knew when Medic started using German, he was about to deal a devastating blow.

“Your, “advice”, was to say, “demand what you want” from her.”

Medic gestured to Ms. Pauling, whose face held seriousness, but inside barely containing her laughter from the look on Sniper’s face.

“Ah piss.”

Heavy chimed in with laughter, “Tiny man walked into Tiny woman office, and-“his sentence was interrupted by boisterous laughter of his own.

Pauling finished for him, “I want sex lady!” she said in a pretty spot on Bostonian impression.

Sniper hung his head in shame as Spy hon hon honed his way to the bank, with Medic chiming in. “You encouraged him too!” the doctor said.

“Well of course doctor, but at least I knew it was a bad idea from the start.”

Sniper sat up from his chair and adjusted his hat, “You think I should apologize to Scout?” he said after a long sigh from him.

“He wouldn’t have any idea Sniper, he was too drunk, remember?” Medic said. “Vhe agreed that we should probably forgive Scout for it and blame heavy to carelessly giving him vodka.”

“Tiny man was very funny that day!”

 

“To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day….”

Scout picked up on the lyrics of Engineer’s favorite songs, most of which included Marty Robbins.

“Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say,”

The others let Scout take the song away, as the door to the back opened the his voice filled the cold night.

“No one dared to ask his business, No one dared to make a slip.”

Ms. Pauling leaned against the door to the cabin, laughing along with the others at the slight buzz in his voice, and how much of an idiot he looked.

“The stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.”

The rest of the team joined in chorus.

“Big Iron of his hip”

As the song went on, the road became a little, darker. The moon was shrouded by thick clouds and the woods became denser and denser. Still, the chorus continued with the lyrics, and the eventual “Big iron on his hip” at the end of every stanza.

Unbeknownst to them, there was something watching them they could not see.

“Big Iron, Big Iron!” the chorus sang, ignorant.

It watched them through fires and pains of hell itself, darkness shrouding them, sealing them into a small cup that was to be drank by it.

“When he tried to match the ranger with the Big Iron on his hip!”

Before the final lyric could be sang and the guitar in the radio would be faded out, the van was thrown into the air by forces unknown. Pieces of it we disputed over the railing of the road and into the forest.

The radio fell silent.

 

    


	2. Chapter 2

The pavement of the road wore off onto the skin of Ms. Pauling’s face, depositing dirt and drawing specs of blood from her pores. Her bun had become untangled and her hair was in every which way except the way she wanted it.

She brushed the hair blocking her eyes, allowing light to display a turned over and beat to shit van in a tree. How the hell did they get it stuck in a tree!?

She looked around herself, finding her shoe a bit while off near Medic and Heavy on her right. Sniper was swearing and Spy was examining his suit to the front of her, and on her left were the three jerkoffs that crashed the van.

Wait, that meant seven in total, where was.

Oh. Scout and Engineer were through the windshield being pecked at by crows. Splendid. Moans of agony from Scout could be heard.

“Ow. Engie, what’d we hit?” he coughed as he spoke.

Engineer, who was thought the windshield and on the bed of the forest, was still miraculously unharmed. Maybe his hardhat had something to do wi-

Her brain received a message from her foot, and it read:

“I’m broken, here have some pain”

She twisted her head to notice her right foot was bent completely the wrong way at an almost backward-

Nope. She wasn’t going to look at it anymore. The pain made her double over on her side, as she called out.

“Medic!”

Scout jumped down from the tree, falling as he hit the ground. Engine helped him up as Pyro, Solider and Demo helped each other. Scout called to Medic

“Doc Ms. Paulin called yo- HOLY SHIT!”

“Vhat is it Scou- “

The team surrounded Ms. Pauling, staring wide eyed at the whole mess that was her right foot. At least the left one was still working.

“PRIVATE, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!” Solider spoke, yelling becoming the normal for him.

Ms. Pauling, still doubled over in pain, still responded. “Wh- _motherfu-_ Who was driving?”

All eyes went to Engineer.

“My bad.”

 

“Heavy is confused.”

“Laborer, there is no way the van just flipped on its own.”

The team was walking along the road, in search of the nearest town. Dark clouds loomed overhead, so shelter was currently top priority.

Ms. Pauling was being carried over the shoulder of Heavy, who scrunched in face in confusion over how the van got into a crash. Engineer inspected the van afterwards, telling the others it was beat to hell so fixing it was off the table.

Now he was being interrogated by how it happened.

“Well maybe SOMEONE shouldn’t be drinking at the wheel!” responded Scout, who got a nasty scar along his elbow to add to his collection.

“You were drinkin to son.”

“Was I drivin though?”

Sniper and Spy lagged at the back of the group. When moments like these arrived, their rivalry was overlooked in exchange for peace and quiet. Spy interjected at sometimes, but only for comedic effect.

“IT DOESINT MATTER LADIES, WE MUST FIND SHELTER! PRIVATE PAULING, WHERE IS THE NEAREST TOWN?”

Ms. Pauling leaned her head on the shoulder almost as wide as her on Heavy. The absolute size of this lad was sometimes terrifying, but at this point it was comfy.

“About 150 miles solider.” She said through pain.

“It’s freezing laddie!” said Demo to Solider. “We’ll die if we don’t find other shelter!”

“I believe it is also starting to rain.” Medic said as he peered into the sky.

The team had the consensus of wanting shelter, but there wasn’t much availability other than the forest, which was barely any cover from rain, and no help against the cold.

While they silently agreed on looking out for shelter, Scout who was walking behind much of the group, casting glances at Ms. Pauling without being seen of course, was feeling for something else.

When he wasn’t feeling bad for being intoxicated near the wheel, he was glancing through the forest around him. The road was the only space of freedom, and the rest was darkness.

He felt uneasy. Scout didn’t like to admit it, but he HATED the dark. Not the dark when you close the door to your room and trying to sleep, or the dark when you’re on top of the roof of the base looking at the sky, that dark is okay.

The dark he hated was when he was in a place, he didn’t know surrounded by it. As if he was at the mercy of it.

He swore he heard shuffles in the leaves beside him, or a soft snap of a branch around him, but his teammates didn’t react, so he figured it was his own imagination. Still, the condensation of the breath in front of him didn’t comfort him in this temperature.

When the team came across a large cabin, they weren’t ones to be picky. Although Scout was hesitant.

“We just found a cabin far out in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, and you tell me there’s nothing wrong with this picture?” he said before entering.

Engineer stopped before the steps to the door. “Son, are you tellin me you’re afraid of ghosts?”

“Heavy don’t like ghosts either Scout. Is okay.”

Scout scoffed at them. “I aint sayin that, I’m saying there might be some freaky shit in ‘ere.”

Against his judgement, freaky shit was not present. On the contrary, there was running water, electricity, comfortable furniture, bedrooms, the whole nine yards.

This was met with a sigh of relief from the team.

“What I tell ya Scout? Just a holiday retreat!” Engineer said joyfully as he plopped down on a chair.

“Ahem.” Responded Spy, who nodded towards Ms. Pauling, who was visibly still in pain from her broken foot.

“Vhe almost forgot!” said Medic who was setting down his Medigun on the kitchen counter. Heavy turned to Scout. “How do you….”

Heavy made an extending motion with his arm. It went from bent to extended in a straight line.

“Tough guy, that’s not how you heil Hitler, you gotta raise it.”

Medic perked up at the remarks as Spy walked over to a confused Heavy. “He means extending the couch, Scout.”

Scout and Heavy made an “Oh” sound simultaneously as Ms. Pauling stifled a laugh. She was a stuck in a cabin with the biggest idiots on the planet.

As she was laid out onto the couch and her feet perched onto the wooden coffee table, she uttered words of pain. They needed to re adjust this foot, and everyone knew it. Including Ms. Pauling, but that doesn’t mean she had to like it.

“Scout, you broken your feet before?”

Scout broke into a smile. “Nah but my older brother did once trying to outrun me! Yeah, I’m cool. He was swearin at me as I set it back because we so far away from Ma.”

“So, you know how to set it back is what you’re sayin?” replied Engineer.

“Mprh Mprh?”

“Pyro, I think Medic is- “

Medic was in a stupor of talking to himself repeatedly.

“See what happens when you mention Hitler son?” said Engineer. Scout rolled his eyes.

“Wait he knew him?” Ms. Pauling asked.

“It’s a long story Ms. Paulin, but I’ll tell you all about it” Scout said as he maneuvered himself to the front of the table. “You see, the reason why is because He was a young guy at that age, so he was enlisted by Uncle Hitler to be a part of this program.”

Ms. Pauling become more and more interested. “What kind of program?”

“Well you see Ms. Pauling, there was this program where all the good boys would go into buildings across the country and have intercourse with seven women at a time to prolong the German race. They had to be though so you wouldn’t make the cut.”

Ms. Pauling caught on to that last line and was about to make a remark but was overshadowed by the fact Scout just set in the foot without her knowledge and the pain caught up to her.

Over the yell of pain, Scout boasted to himself. “Did you see how I distracted her so easily? That was a lie Ms. Paulin, the program and you not being pretty. You pretty Ms. Paulin. Anyway, I’m basically a doctor, right?”

The team stared at him in silence.

“Boy, I find it intriguing that somehow you managed to create a lie so far fetched it is actually true.”

“Wait that’s a real thing?”

Spy puffed smoke. “Medic wasn’t apart of it as he said”

“Oh yes I was! I hated it though, they promised me there would be this new superhuman coming out of these experiments, but all I got was regular children! So, I sold out to the allies, hoping they would give me a better deal. And I got to work on the Atomic bomb!”

Medic came out of his stupor that turned out to be unrelated to Scouts earlier comment. The team didn’t hear this version before.

“I must have misheard, and it only clarifies you as a maniac” Spy retorted.

“Vhell, anyway, how is Ms. Pauling doing? Her leg seems, vhell, alright now. Keeping it in one position is all you can do.”

Scout turned on the box TV I front of the couch, but no signal was reached.

“What we gonna do now?” asked Scout

A sharp inhale broke silence, and everyone braced for intense yel-

“MAGGOOOOTS! WE ARE GOING TO HOLD THE FORT UNTIL THE WEATHER WARMS UP! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BARRICADE ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS! WE WILL STARVE IF WE DON’T EAT SCOUT!”

As Scout jumped back and grabbed for his bat, Sniper stopped his hand.

“Mate, he’s jokin with ya. Besides, there is food in the fridge and Ms. Pauling is currently hoarding Fritos in her backpack.”

Ms. Pauling pulled her stash closer. “Mine.” She said.

Scout plopped down on one of the chairs opposites of Engineer’s and sprawled out casually. “Well what if the owner comes back and finds all his food gone?”

“Your saying that as if you have never stolen Scout” Spy said.

“I never stole!” he shouted to Spy behind him.

Ms. Pauling glanced a look.

“Scout, I have a file for literally everything you have done. Who we bullshittin?”

Scout laughed to himself to retreat from the conversation.

 

Demo man leaned against the window near the dining room as his teammates were helping themselves to feast. Out in the darkness, he peered through the forest.

Demo man could get drunk, wasted, shitfaced galore. However, he currently was only on a moderate buzz, and his tolerance was high as his liver was either dead or powerful than a locomotive.

Which is why, to his surprise, he swore he was seeing things when blackness seemed to dart through the distant trees.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It was beautiful.

The bread was so soft, as a winter coat would be around someone in the cold night, shielding it from the sting of the air.  The tomatoes drip as if, by themselves, throwing pieces of them at you just to satisfy taste buds. The Lettuce and cheese complement each other by wrapping closely, while the Ham and Bologna-

Wait. Where did it go?

Heavy leaned his eyes off the table to find Scout with his “Sandvich” in hand, about to take a bite. Not this time.

Scout taunted him with the sandwich in hand. “Maybe try a sal- “

His bragging was interrupted by Heavy charging at him, with Scout diving out of the way as Heavy crashed onto the wood floors of the hallway.

Ms. Pauling, around the corner of the hall on the couch, looked up from her glass of wine and book, trying to peer down the hallway. “Heavy? Are you alright?”

Heavy stumbled from his feet and coming into view, as he shouted down the hallway.

“Tiny man is not being good person.” He said it him in a sad tone. It was fascinating that such a murderous giant could be so soft hearted.

Scout was being an asshole this time of day. Probably to catch the attention of Ms. Pauling. He stumbled out of the hallway. “Dodgers 1, Giants 0!”

Despite Heavy’s protests, Scout was about to eat the delight when Engineer came out of no where with a fist of iron, drilling it into Scout’s gut. “Don’t you know the Dalla’s cowboys are the best team son?”

“That was- _cough_ so uncool.” He groaned.

“Maybe you shouldn’t tease Heavy like that.” He said with a smile as he returned the sandwich to its rightful owner.

Ms. Pauling sighed and glanced at Engineer. “You couldn’t have used your real hand?”

“Aw come on sweetheart, its so much more fun to use it!”

Ms. Pauling was not amused. “You could have broken his ribs you know?”

Sniper, who was reclining in a chair opposite of Ms. Pauling’s, spoke up. “The doc would fix em up”

Medic peered out of the corner with Archimedes on his shoulder. “Ribs don’t grow back!”

“Scout apologize to the man,” Engineer said with a smile.

Scout breathed deeply for a bit as he lay on the ground. “Why?”

“Because you stole the man’s sandwich, can’t you just make your own?”

“Why can’t he make his own?”

“That was his own Scout”

Ms. Pauling tuned out of the argument and glanced at Solider and Demo, who were talking it up at the dinner table.

“READ. MY. LIPS. AMERICA IS THE GREATEST.”

“But think of it this way mate, Scotland existed longer than America has”

“SCOTLAND DOESINT EXIST ANYMORE!”

“ITS STILL LONGER MATE!”

Ms. Pauling laughed to herself. She reminisced on the one time she got a little tipsy and joined in on one of their history arguments. God that was a mistake, Solider almost took her head off after reminding him about the burning of the white house in 1812.

She turned her head when she heard the front door opening to see Spy entering the patio and closing the door behind him softly.

 

Spy stepped foot out into the cold and was met with orange light piercing through distant clouds and a collection of trees. The forest was mostly plain and grey, typical for the winter season. As spy fidgeted with the cigarette in his hand, he glances over at Sniper to his left.

He is perched up against the wooden wall of the cabin with binoculars peering out into the forest. To his right is his rifle, and on his left an empty chair.

As spy flattens his Suit jacket, he strolls over to him. “How is it, Sniper?” he says with a grin. His priorities couldn’t have been more obvious if they were broadcasted on a Neon light 50,000 feet wide in the sky.

He receives no answer.

“What is it you are observing?” he continues, still with the grin of mischief of his face. Spy adores the moments he has like this, he doesn’t know why, just pissing off anyone is a delight to him as a sandwich is to Heavy. His favorite target is a competition between Scout and Sni-

“Do you see it?”

Spy glances towards the Forest. “See what?”

“In between the trees. It moves when I take my eyes off it. A black blur. Right there.”

Sniper raises his finger that stays the same path of the binoculars. Spy, who is now more interested in the delusions of Sniper, comes near his shoulder to search.

His eyes cut through the holes between the trees, searching for anything. While first unable, he finds what Sniper is looking at.

“Sniper, it’s probably a dark rock.”

“No mate. No rock moves.”

Sniper snorts at him and proceeds to take a long drag of his cigarette. He glances out towards the dark blur and laughs to himself one more time. “You’re an idiot.” He says.

Spy stomps out his cigarette and takes a step outside of the patio.

“What are you doin?” Sniper asks.

Spy looks back at Sniper, who is still peering through his binoculars. “I’m going to retrieve that rock and bash your skull with it.”

“That’s a bad idea mate.”

Spy pulls out a radio from his back pocket. “Turn yours on, I would like to insult you as soon as I retrieve it.”

Sniper quickly backs up, and without turning his eyes away, uses his free hand to maneuver his bag residing in the lawn chair beside him. He takes out the radio and turns up the volume.

Spy walks away from the Sniper towards the blur. Even if it wasn’t a rock, what’s it gonna do, take away his birthday? He’s literally delivered a rival CEO to hell, and battled Merasmus and won.  

The crunch of the leaves was the only audible sound besides faint conversation from the cabin. As he approached through the trees, the blur became more and more apparent. It was about 2 feet tall and wide, and floating in midair.

Besides the fact it was floating, what added to the eeriness was the clearing of trees behind it. There fallen trees as far as the eye could see behind it.

Spy pulled out his radio. “Sniper, zhe blur has seemed to carve a path of trees behind it.”

_“Get out of there you idiot.”_

“I’m gonna toss a pebble into it”

_“Don’t. Do. That.”_

“I’m gonna do it and nothing you do will stop me. Ha-ha!”

Spy snorted into his radio, as glanced back at the cabin. Sniper, through his binoculars could see Spy, and gave a gesture to stick it somewhere unpleasant.

Spy reached down for a pebble, and caught a white, smooth tiny pebble. It was rather comfortable to hold, a shame he had to throw it at some blur and possibly destroy it. Oh well.

He tossed the pebble into the blur casually. He expected it to go through or bounce off, however the pebble went in and didn’t come out the other side.

Perhaps Spy missed it?

Spy took hold of a rock the size of his hand and chucked it inside. The same result happened.

“Sniper?” he said into the radio without smug intent, but of curiosity.

_“Don’t fuck around with that, get back ere.”_

“Whatever.” Spy wasn’t going back. He had a theory it might have been a portal, since nothing came out the other side when he threw objects inside.

He decided to approach it closer. He crept over piles of rocks and dead leaves, the cold air lying still. He stepped into the clearing of trees and investigated the blur. He stared into it, swearing he could see a faint of-

**_RED._ **

**_RED._ **

**_RED._ **

**_RED._ **

**_RED._ **

The blur expanded exponentially in limited time. It was not just the blur that turned red, but the entire forest, the sky, the leaves, the trees, everything became bright red, one the color of blood.

The red didn’t stop in appearance as it showed its true form not of vision but of reality. Blood seeped down from the sky consuming Spy.

Blood everywhere. His hands, his chest, it seeped from his eyes and screamed from his noise. His ears were full of blood. Removal of the mask only accelerated the bleeding. He wasn’t bleeding, he became it.

 

To Sniper of course, everything was fine.

Spy approached the blur with curiosity, and then…

He just stood there. Doing nothing. His eyes didn’t twitch in the slightest. He remained unbreathing.

Sniper became concerned. Did something just scar even the smug Spy into-

A shrill of pain and a blood curdling scream filled the air. Spy was gone from his view. Without thinking, Sniper scanned using his bare eyes around him, finding Spy had appeared not near the blur, not in the forest, but right beside him.

 

“Ms. Paulin, you would love it.”

Scout had been on the couch for a good 5 minutes now pestering her for a movie selection. The television above the fireplace, though not much noteworthy, was still a television, and from the looks of it quite expensive.

It cast a clear picture and it was a color TV, a hard thing to come by these days, especially one to install in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Scout and Engineer sat on one side, while Heavy and Medic sat on another. Ms. Pauling sat with a stack of VHS tapes.

The team had been trying their hardest to convince Ms. Pauling to watch this movie called “JAWS”

According to Scout, its about this shark that thinks of nothing but killing people. These guys set out to catch it, and that’s all he can say without spoiling it.

Medic went a bit too much into detail about how realistic the gore was, in comparison to other movies, while Heavy and Engineer focuses of the plot more.

Ms. Pauling was skeptical, but the main character on the back labeled “Chief Brody” looked kind of hot, so she made her decision.

“Alright fine, I’ll watch the stupid movie.”

Calls of joy echoed through the cabin as Ms. Pauling got up to put the VHS tape in.

“Hey uh… How do you do this Scout?”

Scout, who was downing some milk, looked over through the glass and gave a shrug. She glanced at Heavy and Medic. “Heavy is not very gut with technology. Only books.”

Engineer stepped in and knelt beside Ms. Pauling. He took the VHS out of her hands, politely of course, and stuck the VHS in. the player made a combination of mechanical sounds, before the TV turned on and began to play the opening title of “JAWS”

Just as Scout was about to press play on the remote, a scream was heard from behind them. Not one that would eventually come from the horror film in front of them, but from outside on the patio. Scout lept over the couch with Engineer as they jogged out onto the patio to find Spy on the ground, with Sniper with wide eyes of terror.

In Spy’s hand was his mask, exposing his true face to the world. He never took off that mask in front of anyone.

“Snipes, what the fuck happened?”

Sniper fumbled with his words. “The- He- “he tried to combine a sentence to convey his emotions, but all he could muster was pointing his finger in the direction of the blur.

Well, where it was anyway.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Medic kneeled next to Spy and did his best to examine him, but its not the easiest thing to do when the subject’s head is moving at Mach 5.

His eyes were erratic searching all around him, as if he was seeing everything for the first time. His mask had been discarded and his face shown to the mercenaries, something not even thought in the realm of possibility. However, this was the least of important events.

Sniper became a stuttering mess while Scout was interrogating him.

“Snipes Jesus Christ just say something? What the fuck happened?”

“With all due respect son, you swearin at him aint gonna solve nothing.”

Medic tried to hold Spy still, but his face kept jerking away from everything around him, as Spy buried his face into his hands.

“Engie, Spy is a literal sobbing mess. Aint you a bit curious as to what went down?”

“Damn right son but that’s not how you get answers out of somebo-

Engineer’s teaching moment was cut short by Medic. After his failed attempts to hold him still, his temper got the best of him

“MEIN GOTT! STAY STILL FOR CHRIST SAKE!”

Spy complied, and Medic studied him for a quick moment, he then rose to his feet, and discarded his anger with a breath. He turned to his team who were staring at him in confusion.

“Vhat?”

“Doktor. What wrong with Spy?”

“Oh, vhell he is most incredibly shaken up by, something.”

Scout shot questioning eyes to both Medic, then Spy, and finally Sniper. “What you do, kick the shit out of him?”

“No!” Sniper finally found his voice again. “He had a- “

“A seizure. I had a seizure on the porch.”

Spy finally spoke with mask in hand. He stood up with the help of Medic and brushed himself off. Medic looked at him with questionable intent.

“A seizure?”

“I used to have them when I was a child, but they went away after a while. Just a resurgence. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

Medic didn’t want to let it go, but the team accepted it as an answer. Spy drew out a cigarette and inhaled it with shaky fingers. “I’ll be fine”.

The team collectively nodded, and after Scout went over to Sniper to see if he was alright, the team went back inside calmly.

They went inside to see Ms. Pauling peer over the back of the couch.

“What happened?” she asked. The team looked at each other, and their eyes elected Engineer to speak.

“Just a little something with Spy and Sniper you know? Nothin to worry about.”

The redness on his face was a dead giveaway he was lying, but Ms. Pauling didn’t have the energy to press on. All she did was sigh.

“Alright then, are we going to watch this movie?”

The team all said different variations of “Yes” and all took their seats in front of the TV. Engie preferred to lean over the counter of the kitchen, as Scout took a seat on the couch (his intentions were obvious), Solider and Demo on different chairs, Pyro and Heavy on the ground, and Medic…

Medic was glancing out the window trying to get a glimpse of Spy and Sniper, but the window didn’t permit. He instead walked over the hallway of rooms to set himself up.

“You aint watchin with us Doc?”

“Nein, I am going to set up my room. I might come out when I am done.”

“Whatever.” Was Scout’s reply as they started the movie.

 

Outside, small droplets of rain started to fall, a visible nod from nature that the world was about to get a whole lot colder. The heavy rain clouds shrouded out whatever remnants of the orange rays from the already set sun, as in the opposite direction the looming darkness crept over the forest.

Two rocking chairs were brought from the inside of the cabin. They were made from dark, polished wood and were absent of the creaking of most chairs of its kind.

For a while, Spy and Sniper sat in the chairs looking out without saying a word. Communication wasn’t necessary, they both knew what they were looking for.

The movie served a great distraction from the others, and outside the rain, though quiet, mostly drowned out the movie and conversations of inside. They were left alone with themselves and their thoughts.

“Should we tell them?” asked Sniper.

Spy didn’t even dart his eyes from the surrounding area. “No. Maybe it went away, and we can forget this ever happened.”

Sniper nodded and set his eyes back to his binoculars out in the forest. Although futile from the darkness and thick wooded area, the two still couldn’t take their eyes off their short view of the forest.

 

It watched its prey with awe it crept from under her like a beast, eager to tear into the flesh and fulfill the need of food.

That was of course until the camera switched to an above water shot, as the theme reached its climax and the woman in question, a swimmer out in the night (a point Engineer criticized highly, as if the girl would listen to him through the TV,) about to be eaten by a killer shark.

While the others were watching in anticipation, Pyro buried his eyes in his hands. But Ms. Pauling?

Ms. Pauling, one of the most badass people the team ever knew, could kill ten men in one room by herself with a pipe, (it happened before) was Terrified of sharks.

Pyro previously handed her a small pillow to shield her eyes, but unlike Pyro Ms. Pauling just peered over it. When the final moment they were waiting for happened, and in movie fashion, the girl on the TV screen was thrown around screaming for her life before being dragged underwater, Ms. Puling shot up and walked to the kitchen.

Scout and Heavy shot a confused look to each other, and then to Engineer, who was still at the kitchen counter, watching Ms. Pauling raid the fridge for a block of cheese.

She sat down on the couch and continued watching, nibbling on pieces of cheese. Scout was still looking at her confused.

She caught sight of him. “Hmppfh?” Originally only a sound Pyro would make, but when you stuffed your mouth full of cheese its hard to make coherent sentences.

She managed to complete her sentence after swallowing. “You want a piece?” she said quietly, as the other watched the movie.

“Uhhh, sure?” he said, and Ms. Pauling handed him a block of Cheese as she turned to the TV screen. As Scout nibbled on it, he shot a look at Heavy, who hadn’t stopped looking at Ms. Pauling confused. The Russian shrugged, he remembered a famous quote from him once at dinner at the base.

_“Heavy has PHD. Medic has PHD. Engineer has 10. Yet I still cannot understand tiny woman.”_

Scout couldn’t either, but he wasn’t one to turn down some cheese.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a bit of delay because I took a vacation, but I will now get back on track of uploading at least once every two days.

The soft rain pattered itself against the large window in Medic’s room. It was located at the end of the hallway, while upon entering the bed is positioned on the left side, facing a window showcasing the outdoors.

Archimedes rested in a tray of blood on the nightstand under the window, snuggling in the warm liquid and cooing as Medic pet him, the both staring into the forest.

Through the walls, the quiet occasional conversation was heard, with Scout mostly involved, commenting on the events of the movie. He counted yelps from Ms. Pauling about four times, Archimedes perking up from his tray each time. Funny, Ms. Pauling can kill without hesitation, but hated sharks.

Still, he was not to squander the task at hand. He had seen seizures before, he treated them. The symptoms that Spy was exhibiting was not at all like the symptoms of seizures.

Medic could not shake it from his head. There was no way Sniper, although they had gotten into fights before and threatened extreme bodily harm, could have scared Spy.

For god’s sake, he never though Spy would ever _be_ scared. What in the world could have spooked Spy as it did?

He knew he was most likely being paranoid. Maybe some wild animal could have scared Spy. It shouldn’t matter to him. He continued to stroke the soft back of Archimedes.

He removed his glasses and rested them in his right hand, while wiping his forehead.

Medic sat up from his chair and smoothed the back of Archimedes one last time. “I will be right back.” He said silently, as he crept out of his room into the living room.

_“This shark, it’ll swallow you whole.”_

The tv displayed an old man talking to a crowd in a room, with the comical doodle of a shark eating a stick figure. The lights were turned off, the room illuminated only by the TV. Medic silently walked through the kitchen to the window, where part of the porch was still visible.

There was a small light on the outside giving a radius of illumination, however not far before eventual rain and darkness blocked much of the vicinity. He could see the shoulder of Sniper leaning on the side of the porch, but not much on Spy’s condition.

He gave up on checking on Spy and Sniper, since it was most possible, they would do anything in their power to distract from the conversation.

Medic let out a light sigh and close the blinds to the window, and briefly glanced at the living room.

Ms. Pauling and Scout were sharing a large block of White American cheese, Solider and Demo in their chairs, Heavy and Pyro on the floor, and Engineer in the fridge, eating bite size pieces of ham.

Medic walks by Engineer and snatches a piece of ham from him without him noticing, while he walks silently back into his room. Archimedes loves meat.

He promptly sat back into his chair and offered the piece of meat to Archimedes, but he wouldn’t look at him.

Medic tried to coax the bird into accepting the ham. Finally, Medic leaned and aligned his viewpoint to the birds, to reveal….

Nothing. Just darkness. Medic leaned back in his chair and twiddled his thumbs. He was still anxious, and his bird acting up did put him on edge, but animals act weird all the time.

Medic sat up and took his mind off it. He arranged his room to tidy perfection, making the bed, cleaning out the closet, everything he could think of.

Everything except noticing that the darkness was moving.

 

Scout was in bliss.

The absolute madman was relaxing on the couch sitting next to Ms. Pauling and receiving cheese from her. Was this next level? Does this mean she liked him?

It passed through his mind as his mind returned to the screen, as the three men hunting the shark grew more and more drunk, breaking into song. As the screen panned out to the ocean, and darkness took over the screen, the world somewhat stopped as he glanced back at Ms. Pauling.

It was like time was frozen, and he was lost forever in her eyes, as she was nibbling on a piece of cheese. One thing just wasn’t right though.

It wasn’t that she didn’t look incredibly gorgeous to him, but the expression on her face kept the same. Longer than he would think before he snapped out of a trance.

Usually, his trances don’t involve the entirety of the room around him being frozen in place. The team’s positions, expressions, even the movie.

Scout became suddenly anxious, as he was the only one to seem conscious. He peered around himself in the darkness only slightly cut by the television in front of him, and even though his friends were completely unresponsive,

He knew he wasn’t alone.

 

 


End file.
